2014 New Balance Games Grand Prix in Boston

Had a great time with my daughter watching the champion track athletes compete at the 2014 New Balance Grand Prix at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. Lots of crazy things happened. Cam Levins, a favorite in the men's 3000m lost a shoe, Galen Rupp dropped out of the mile after setting two American records recently, and Jenny Simpson threw in a big last lap going for the American record in the women's two mile except it was not the last lap. She really had two to go and stopped before realizing she had to get running again to finish the race. Despite these unfortunate mishaps, there was a world record in the men's 4 x 800m relay, although Nick Symmonds' team was not involved and Mary Cain set another World's Junior record. This time in the 1000m. Here are some videos I took of some of the races. I need to get a better camera than my Flipcam.

Men's 4 x 800m world record had an outstanding finish!


Mary Cain winning the women's 1000m


Mary Cain after the race:


Men's Mile Galen Rupp drops out:


Women's 2 mile Jenny Simpson misjudges the finish


Men's 3000m last lap


Women's 2000m Kim Conley destroys the field

10,000m videos" 2013 Moscow World Championships

There are two names for the 10,000m finals at this year's World Championships: Mo Farah and Turinesh Dibaba. Did anyone else have a realistic chance?



1 Mohamed Farah GREAT BRITAIN & N.I. GBR 27:21.71 SB
2 Ibrahim Jeilan ETHIOPIA ETH 27:22.23 SB
3 Paul Kipngetich Tanui KENYA KEN 27:22.61 
4 Galen Rupp UNITED STATES USA 27:24.39 SB
5 Abera Kuma ETHIOPIA ETH 27:25.27 
6 Bedan Karoki Muchiri KENYA KEN 27:27.17 
7 Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemoi KENYA KEN 27:28.50 SB
8 Nguse Amlosom ERITREA ERI 27:29.21 SB
9 Mohammed Ahmed CANADA CAN 27:35.76 SB
10 Dathan Ritzenhein UNITED STATES USA 27:37.90 SB
11 Thomas Ayeko UGANDA UGA 27:40.96 PB
12 Imane Merga ETHIOPIA ETH 27:42.02 
13 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro UGANDA UGA 27:44.53 SB
14 Cameron Levins CANADA CAN 27:47.89 SB
15 Tsuyoshi Ugachi JAPAN JPN 27:50.79 SB
16 Dejen Gebremeskel ETHIOPIA ETH 27:51.88 
17 Goitom Kifle ERITREA ERI 27:56.38 
18 Chris Derrick UNITED STATES USA 28:04.54 SB
19 Daniele Meucci ITALY ITA 28:06.74 SB
20 Stephen Mokoka SOUTH AFRICA RSA 28:11.61 
21 Suguru Osako JAPAN JPN 28:19.50 
22 Timothy Toroitich UGANDA UGA 28:33.61 
23 Bashir Abdi BELGIUM BEL 28:41.69 
24 Collis Birmingham AUSTRALIA AUS 28:44.82 SB
25 Yevgeny Rybakov RUSSIA RUS 28:47.49 



1 Tirunesh DIBABA ETHb30:43.35
2 Gladys CHERONO KEN 30:45.17
3 Belaynesh OLJIRA ETH 30:46.98
4 Emily CHEBET KEN 30:47.02 PB
5 Hitomi NIIYA JPN 30:56.70 PB
6 Shitaye ESHETE BRN 31:13.79 SB
7 Selly Chepyego KAPTICH KEN 31:22.11 PB
8 Shalane FLANAGAN USA 31:34.83
9 Ababel YESHANEH ETH 32:02.09
10 Christelle DAUNAY FRA 32:04.44 SB
11 Marisol ROMERO MEX 32:16.36
12 Jordan HASAY USA 32:17.93
13 Ana Dulce FÉLIX POR 32:36.73
14 Amy HASTINGS USA 32:51.19
15 Karolina JARZYNSKA POL 32:54.15
16 Juliet CHEKWEL UGA 32:57.02 NR
17 Gulshat FAZLITDINOVA RUS 33:31.49
Sabrina MOCKENHAUPT GER DNF
Lara TAMSETT AUS DNF

5000m videos: 2013 Moscow World Championships

You just need to know two names for these races: Mo Farah and Meseret Defar:



1 Mohamed Farah GREAT BRITAIN & N.I. GBR 13:26.98
2 Hagos Gebrhiwet ETHIOPIA ETH 13:27.26
3 Isiah Kiplangat Koech KENYA KEN 13:27.26
4 Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa KENYA KEN 13:27.67
5 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi KENYA KEN 13:29.01
6 Bernard Lagat UNITED STATES USA 13:29.24
7 Muktar Edris ETHIOPIA ETH 13:29.56
8 Galen Rupp UNITED STATES USA 13:29.87
9 Yenew Alamirew ETHIOPIA ETH 13:31.27
10 Ryan Hill UNITED STATES USA 13:32.69
11 Dejene Regassa BAHRAIN BRN 13:34.54
12 Elroy Gelant SOUTH AFRICA RSA 13:43.58
13 Sindre Buraas NORWAY NOR 13:45.67
14 Zane Robertson NEW ZEALAND NZL 13:46.55
15 Brett Robinson AUSTRALIA AUS 14:03.77



1 Meseret Defar ETHIOPIA ETH 14:50.19 
2 Mercy Cherono KENYA KEN 14:51.22 
3 Almaz Ayana ETHIOPIA ETH 14:51.33 
4 Viola Jelagat Kibiwot KENYA KEN 15:01.67 
5 Buze Diriba ETHIOPIA ETH 15:05.38 
6 Molly Huddle UNITED STATES USA 15:05.73 
7 Shannon Rowbury UNITED STATES USA 15:06.10 SB
8 Susan Kuijken NETHERLANDS NED 15:14.70 
9 Elena Nagovitsyna RUSSIA RUS 15:24.83 
10 Dolores Checa SPAIN ESP 15:30.42
11 Tejitu Daba BAHRAIN BRN 15:33.89 
12 Kim Conley UNITED STATES USA 15:36.58 
13 Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal NORWAY NOR 15:48.87 
14 Dominika Nowakowska POLAND POL 15:58.26 
15 Jackie Areson AUSTRALIA AUS 16:08.32

2013 Boston New Balance Indoor Games

The 2013 Boston Indoor Games finished with two fantastic races. Mary Cain, a 16 year old high school phenom, raced to her third record of 2013. Just like one mile record she obliterated last week, she again took apart the 2 mile high school record. Here is the video I made of the race:




Not only did Mary win over the crowd, but she finished third overall in the professional field. Imagine what she thought when she stood next to Ethiopia's Turinesh Dibaba, arguably the greatest female runner of all time, before the race.

Here is the official women's twp mile video:



Just after that race, Galen Rupp ran the 2nd fastest American time in the indoor 3000 meter race. He lost to another teen-aged phenom, Hagos Gebrhiwet from Ethiopia, who at 18 years of age just set the new Junior World Record. Here is the video I took of the full race.



Here is the official race video:



Here is the last lap of the Men's Mile where Matt Centrowitz, jr. outkicks Will Leer and his long hair and mustache.



Here is the official mile video:

Centrowitz getting interviewed after the race.

Olympic Champion Aries Merritt showed up, but did not run .

I had some great seats for these races. Usually my wife or one of my kids go with me, but they opted out this year and gave me an upgraded ticket near the finish line. I don't know if that was for my benefit of for their benefit?

Galen Rupp vs Bernard Lagat

I have fnally found a video online of Galen Rupp's 2 mile indoor American Record set last weekend which broke Bernard Lagat's previous record. Strangely enough, just minutes before, at the Millrose Games Bernard Lagat broke Galen Rupp's indoor 5000m  American  Record.





Matt Centrowitz looked very smooth in winning the 1500m race at Millrose.

Beating Galen Rupp

Week 7 post hip surgery. After two weeks where my running mileage totaled 12 miles each week, I dipped back into single digits this week hitting just 8 miles of running. I am just being careful of my hip (actually the surrounding muscles and just giving them time to adjust). My hip flexors and left glute medias or piriformis gets tight after running some days. I did have a few post surgery landmarks, however. Anyhow this weeks totals: Monday: zippo Tuesday: 5K miles Mine Falls Wednesday: 5 miles recumbent cycle, 5 miles indoor cycle, 2 miles elliptical Thursday: 10 miles on the elliptical machine at the YMCA- former best was 7 miles Friday: 10 miles mountain bike in Mine Falls Saturday: 3 miles indoor cycle, 1 mile in 7:14, 3 miles recumbent cycle, 1 mile in 6:53 Sunday: 5k run in Mine Falls then 3 miles cool-down on the recumbent cycle at the YMCA Friday I did 10 miles on the elliptical before the program finished. It won't let you go beyond 2 hours. Saturday, I was inspired to try to break 7 minutes for a mile on the YMCA indoor track (previous best post surgery was 7:30. I was happy to do that the second time around, but was sucking wind big-time. The corners on this track (9 laps = 1 mile) are not as easy for my hip. Sunday I was inspired enough by Galen Rupp's recent 10,000 meter American record to beat his time for 1/2 the distance. Galen ran 26:48 in Brussels. I wondered if I could run that fast on the Mine Falls 5k course. My best time post surgery had been 27:29. I was happy to run the course in 25:33. By next spring, I hope to shave another 6 minutes off that time to be where I was last summer with a bad hip, and then if all keeps going well, to start getting faster after that!